Field Blog: Week 1

The first class I observed was a Statistics/Pre-Calculus class. I noticed that the class was particularly small and only had about 10 girls in it. Because it was my first class at HB I just assumed that maybe this one class was that small. The particular classroom this class met in was set up differently than how many people would view the typical high school classroom. It had about six tables that were hexagon shaped as opposed to just rows of desks. I really liked that the classroom was set up this way. The students were able to easily work together in groups on assignments and work on the problems together rather than struggling to complete them independently. I noticed that the classroom had a smart board and that it was used for the entire class. The teacher had prepared the notes presentation to work with the smart board. To me this showed that he was organized and prepared for class, a quality that I think is important in order to make a teacher the best they can be. The second class that I went to was an Algebra 2 class. It had 17 student's which was larger than the previous but it was still on the smaller end of class sizes. It was in a different room with a different teacher. I noticed that this room was set up with the desks in row but they were pushed together so the students were sitting with each other and not alone. I noticed that this class was very different than the previous. The girls tended to get off topic easily but I saw that the teacher was patient and quickly brought their focus back to the material. I noticed that this teacher also used the smart board to teach the lesson. He also had an agenda/outline for the students so they knew the homework ahead of time and when the quizzes and test would be. This to me was very impressive. As I sat in the class I realized how much planning must go into each lesson. Not only does the teacher need to be prepared to teach the material, but they also need to be prepared to explain it in many different ways because each student learns differently.